


What Remains

by BlackBirdAolen



Category: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Fandom
Genre: Assassins, Conversation, Fire, M/M, Night, Storm - Freeform, Traces, pondering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 14:23:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5130851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBirdAolen/pseuds/BlackBirdAolen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While a storm steers up the sea, Adéwalé and Ah Tabai ponder what Adéwalé's restlessness could stem from.</p><p> </p><p>  <a href="http://ask.fm/BlackBirdAolen">Got a fanfic idea for me?</a><br/><a href="http://cheroshseiphar.deviantart.com/">My deviantART - full of original fiction.</a><br/><a href="http://blackbirdaolen.tumblr.com/">Snippets and ramblings on my tumblr.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	What Remains

The night was stormy, the sea crashing in on the shores. Adéwalé turned on his bed, trying to find sleep. He couldn’t come to a rest, though, and sighed finally. He couldn’t get his mind to settle. His training with the assassins had begun several months prior, and by now, he had made progress, but he still felt like he was treading water uselessly. Adéwalé still thought about Edward, though the bitterness in his thoughts had subsided. That man had brought much unrest into his life, but by now, it had all settled again. Adéwalé sighed, shaking his head to himself and remaining seated on the ground. His bed was little more than a comfortable heap of linen and wool, to keep off the cool air of the night. Whenever it was stormy, the chill would creep up on all of them. And it was nothing to be underestimated.

Ah Tabai had taken him in like a lost chicklet, for which Adéwalé was grateful. After he had left the Jackdaw, he had felt a bit disoriented, but he had found a new home with the assassins. What he hadn’t counted on was this perpetual restlessness in his chest. He felt that he had a calling, but whenever he tried to attach it to actions, to something particular he was supposed to do, he could find nothing that would explain anything. It was like grasping at a spider’s thread, to find it snapping in his clumsy grasp over and over again. A hopeless task, much like trying to get a hold of smoke.

“You are awake early.” Ah Tabai looked up when Adéwalé exited the hut he had slept in. Adéwalé gave a small bow, and adjusted his clothing. He felt a bit cold still, but he also knew that with some moving about, he would be able to warm up pretty fast. “You also look like you have something burdening your soul.” He waved at a tree stump next to him, while he remained crouched in front of a very small, shielded fire. “Tell me that is bothering you, and we might find a solution together.”

“I fear that it is not so easy.” Adéwalé slowly sat down on the tree stump, staring into the fire. It had something very calming about it, much more calming than the endless waves of the open sea. “I am thinking about this feeling in my heart again. That there is something I need to do.” He paused for a moment, trying to find the words for it. “It is as if… as if there is a small voice calling to me. But whenever I try to really listen to it, it quiets down, and seems to expect me to find out on my own.”

“That is strange indeed.” Ah Tabai leaned back a little, his expression thoughtful. “It seems to me like you have a very specific task set forth by your very soul. I suggest that it might have something to do with your past. Maybe with your encounter with Edward?”

Adéwalé’s face crunched up briefly. He had thought about that too, but his instinct told him that it had nothing to do with his former captain. There was something else entirely calling to him. Maybe, it had something to do with his past slavery, and something with those still enslaved for the purpose of being used and abused shamelessly? “I considered it. But I don’t think that he is the reason I feel restless.”

“He might be part of the reason why. I don’t think that your restlessness is just focused on a singular source.” Ah Tabai added something to the flames, and they crackled softly with a blue glow. It was brief, gone in moments. “He left us all with questions. Mostly, I wonder how the bloodline could come to him. You see, there always have been a couple of outstanding assassins in our ranks. Though, then again, it is hard to be really outstanding with all that transpires in our ranks. There are so many who are outstanding, and so few who achieve nothing in life. You, too, will be outstanding, Adéwalé. I feel it in my blood. You will be someone to be remembered in our chronicles. The chronicles which might be hidden from the world, but those who will live on through our generations.”

“It’s still hard to think that Edward was amongst us.” Adéwalé shook his head lightly. “He left much in bits. With his departure, much fell apart, and I don’t think that it will ever be the same again. I suppose it is good that things are changing, but at the same time, I feel that something is amiss. I don’t know how to describe it other than feeling at a loss.”

Ah Tabai nodded briefly, and again, he added something to the flames. This time, it was a brief flash of green in the flames. Adéwalé had heard that it was supposed to be some kind of ritual, but he couldn’t understand how the change of colors was supposed to help anything. If it even was the intention of this ritual. “I suppose it is only natural to feel at a loss in times of change. And since everything is in motion at all times, it is only natural to be lost in life. But we all have the chance to pave our ways through life. Edward left a strong dent. It will be some time until this mark might fade a little…”

Adéwalé nodded, pulling a woolen blanket around himself. The night was cold. But he felt that he was slowly coming to a point where he could understand his place in this world a little better.

 

 


End file.
